Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Plagiarism in Non-Fiction

As
a university professor, plagiarism was never far away from my sights. I talked about it, warned about it and, alas,
had to take action because of it.

What
I did find to be the case many times, though, was plagiarism was a sin of
omission. What do I mean by this? Simply stated, some students didn’t know
enough about plagiarism not to do it.

To
that end, I’m sharing what I hope will be of value to those of you in the
blogosphere who enjoy writing non-fiction but want to be accurate while doing
so. In the interest of non-plagiarism,
the illustrations I’ve written below are taken from the University of Indiana’s
Writing Center, Bloomington. This is one
of the best examples I’ve seen for modeling how not to plagiarize.

Here’s the ORIGINAL
text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the
1890s by Joyce Williams et al.:

The rise of
industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the
three great developments of late nineteenth century American history. As new,
larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American landscape in
the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided
jobs for a rising tide of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the
growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the Bordens
lived) which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade.

Here’s an
UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase that is plagiarism:

The increase of
industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three
large factors of nineteenth century America. As steam-driven companies became
more visible in the eastern part of the country, they changed farm hands into
factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave of immigrants. With
industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens
lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well as production.

Why is the
paraphrase above unacceptable? The writer has only changed around a few words
and phrases, or changed the order of the original’s sentences.The
writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas or facts.

Below is an
unacceptable paraphrase:

Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of
northeastern industrial cities of the nineteenth century. Steam-powered
production had shifted labor from agriculture to manufacturing, and as
immigrants arrived in the US, they found work in these new factories. As a
result, populations grew, and large urban areas arose. Fall River was one of
these manufacturing and commercial centers (Williams 1).

Why is the paraphrase above acceptable?

The writer accurately relays the
information in the original
uses her own words.

The writer lets his/her reader
know the source of her information.

I hope this post helps with the thorny dilemma of plagiarism. Remember, when writing non-fiction, research
is paramount. But when gaining
information from that research, be sure to do your due diligence around
plagiarism, too. It will keep you
legally safe and allow you to write your wonderful non-fiction book without
worry!

Guardian Angel Publishing teams with Be There Bedtime Stories

Be There Bedtime Stories is a technology that puts video of a Storyteller onto the page of a children’s book, to be displayed on a computer and read to your children. What a wonderful way to remain close to your grandchildren or your children when you're away from home.